


Proof

by Azuregold



Series: Mistyverse [4]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Ghosts, Reincarnation, Show and tell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-15
Updated: 2014-05-15
Packaged: 2018-01-24 21:47:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1618169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azuregold/pseuds/Azuregold
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You don't get to be four hundred years old without collecting a few things along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Proof

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that this is part 4 of a series. I highly suggest you read the other parts first if you want to know what's going on!

Usopp stared. "A century? You really lived that long?"

Zoro shrugged. "Close enough. Could be off a few years – I didn't pay that much attention to birthdays."

"So if you were a shitty old man, how come you look like this?" Sanji waved a hand at Zoro's youthful face and green hair. "You never struck me as the vain type, Marimo."

Zoro rolled his eyes. "I'm not. What color my hair is, how smooth my skin is – they don't make a difference in anything important." His hand reached out to touch the swords lying next to him. "But old bones and muscles do. As hard as I worked to maintain my strength, eventually I stopped gaining ground…and then I started losing it."

He ran a hand over his face. "I didn't choose to look like this, exactly. It was just the way I was, once I became a spirit. But I think…I think it's because this is the way I looked when I achieved my dream. When I became the world's greatest. And I identify much more with that image of myself than the image of an old man whose body is failing."

"I suppose that makes sense," Robin said.

"Maybe," Sanji said, grinning. "Doesn't stop you still being an old geezer, though."

Zoro yawned. "Shut it, brat."

Sanji's eyes narrowed. "What did you call me?"

Zoro shrugged. "You're, what, in your early twenties? Seems like a kid from where I'm sitting." He smirked at Sanji, raising an eyebrow. "You can't have it both ways."

"Says the four-hundred-year-old ghost who looks like he's twenty-five."

Nami shook her head. "I can't really picture it. Trying to imagine you looking like an old man…"

"I bet you looked really cool," Luffy said. "You know, like those wise old masters in stories waiting for their chosen apprentice. And then the kid comes and the old guy is like, 'You're not ready!' And the kid is like, 'I can do it!' And the old guy is like, 'Do this really hard thing, then maybe I'll accept you.' And then the kid finds a way to do it, and the old guy teaches him everything he knows."

"Hah!" Zoro let out a bark of laughter. "Unfortunately, all I got were village kids trying to prove they were brave by playing pranks on the scary old man in the woods."

"And you probably returned the favor by scaring the crap out of them," Franky said.

Zoro grinned. "Maybe a few times."

"Would Old Zoro be more or less scary than the young one?" Usopp wondered.

"You should have taken pictures, Zoro," Robin said with a teasing smile. "Then we could decide for ourselves."

"Tch, why would I?"

"I would have liked to see," Luffy said.

Zoro sat for a while, an unreadable expression on his face. "Well," he said at last, "I don't have any photos, but…"

"What?" Luffy asked eagerly.

Zoro stood, gathering his swords in one smooth motion. He jerked his head in the direction of the men's quarters. "C'mon."

He led them inside, where they all watched as Zoro carefully shifted through the items in his locker, before drawing out a metal box. Carrying it to the table, he lowered himself to the floor as the rest of the crew settled themselves on the low sofas. With a soft click, Zoro popped the latch. The lid of the box lifted, revealing a jumble of various items.

Luffy leaned forward in interest. "What are they?"

Zoro reached into the box and pulled out a small wooden carving. He squeezed it gently. "Proof."

"Of what?" Robin asked quietly.

"Of you," Zoro said, holding up the carving so they could see. It was a leaping fish. The lines were rough but full of life. "This was made by a man I met about forty years after you left. We spent a lot of time fishing together and talking." He raised an eyebrow at Usopp. "Well, he did most of the talking. Told lots of stories. Most of them were about as true as the ones he told the first time I knew him."

Usopp's jaw dropped. "Wait, are you saying—" His eyes dropped to the carving. "Did _I_ make that?"

Zoro nodded, placing the carving into Usopp's hands before pulling out another object. "Ah, here. About thirty years after that, I met a little girl who'd heard stories about the strange old man living on a boat, and wanted to see what I was like for herself." He turned to Robin, holding out a roll of faded paper. "Then she decided I needed friends, and volunteered herself for the job."

Robin took the paper, slowly opening it as the rest of the crew gathered around to look. It was an image of a forest drawn by a childish hand, trees and plants surrounding a small black-haired child and an old man, sitting together against a wide trunk.

"Pretty good drawing for a kid," Franky said.

"Robin-chwan is so talented!" Sanji said.

Chopper reached out and hesitantly brushed a hoof against the white-haired figure. "You look so old, Zoro," he said softly.

"That was just a few years before I died," Zoro said. "A week or so after she gave me that, she left the island with her parents. She promised to come back, but by the time she did, I was already a spirit. I didn't know how to make myself visible yet, so…"

"Zoro…" Nami swallowed. "Are all the things in that box stuff we gave you? In—in other lives?"

"If you interpret 'gave' fairly loosely, yeah," Zoro said. "Like I said…they were proof. They helped remind me that I really had seen you. That it wasn't over yet."

He reached for a toy soldier, flipping it deftly through the air to Franky. "A little boy came to the bay with his parents a few years after I became a spirit. He was damn proud of his new toy, wouldn't shut up about how great it was." He grinned at Franky. "He may have used the word 'super' a few times. But little kids don't always have the greatest attention spans, and eventually, he got distracted by something and set it down. Left it lying there when they went home. He never came back for it, and eventually, I took it with me to Sunny."

Next came a tie pin, set with a bright amber jewel. "I got this," Zoro said, passing it to Brook, "from a superstitious man who believed in evil spirits. He caught a glimpse of me like this, and I guess he decided that leaving an offering would give him the best chance of getting home safely."

Then, a delicate golden bracelet. "This came from a girl who unfortunately snagged the clasp on a branch while running through the woods. She came back for it, but, ah…" He looked sideways at Nami. "I may have gotten to it first."

"You _stole_ it?" Nami snatched the bracelet from him, examining it. "This is real gold! I can't believe you stole this from me!"

Zoro shrugged. "You had more." He picked up a tattered black tie. "This was thrown at me by some idiot having a bad day." He tossed it onto the table. "Dunno why I bothered to keep it, really."

"Bastard."

One by one, Zoro went through each item, telling them who it had belonged to and how he'd gotten it. Luffy, he noticed, had been strangely silent during all the talking. As he put the last thing back in the box, though, a quiet voice spoke up.

"There isn't anything from me in there, is there."

It hadn't sounded like a question but Zoro answered it anyway. "No. I told you, I never saw you or Chopper until this time, so of course there wouldn't be."

Luffy nodded absently, brow furrowed in concentration. He made a humming noise, one finger vigorously rubbing his upper lip. Abruptly, his face cleared. "Stay there!" he commanded, before racing away.

The crew stared after him. "What on earth…?" Sanji said.

Robin chuckled. "I believe our captain is feeling left out," she said.

A few minutes later, Luffy came panting back into the room, a well-worn book tucked under his arm. "Here," he said, holding it out to Zoro. "Put it in the box."

"Oi, Luffy, you don't need to—"

"Yes I do!" he said firmly. "You have memories of us in there. It's kind of like a treasure box, isn't it? For family. So I should be there, too."

Zoro looked at him for a moment, then reached up and took the book. "All right, then," he said. "Thank you." He raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't have expected a book from you, though."

Luffy laughed. "It was one of my favorites when I was little," he said. "There're lots of cool pictures of animals and ships and stuff in it."

"Ah." Zoro grinned back at him.

"Me too!" Chopper said, leaping up and scurrying over to the lockers. "There's got to be something in here…" he muttered, rummaging through his belongings.

"It doesn't have to be anything big," Zoro called. "Seriously, don't give me stuff you want to use every day."

Chopper mumbled an acknowledgement, followed a few seconds later by a cry of triumph as he backed out of the locker, something soft and pink clutched between his hooves. He trotted back to Zoro and held the item out.

Zoro took it. "Gloves?" he asked, turning them over in his hand.

Chopper blushed a little. "My grandma made them for me," he said. "I can't wear them anymore"—he waved his hooves in the air—"but I didn't want to leave them behind. So…do you think they'll work?"

Zoro patted Chopper on the head. "They'll be just fine, Chopper. Thanks." He settled his new gifts into the box. It was a tight squeeze for the book, but he got it in, just barely.

"Wait," Luffy said as Zoro was about to close the lid. He marched to Zoro's locker and began digging through the items.

"What are you doing?" Zoro asked.

"Found them!" Luffy cried. Scrambling back over to Zoro, he opened his hand, letting a shower of gold fall into the box. "There," he said. "Now we're all in there."

Zoro looked down at the three golden earrings shining among the treasures. "Heh. Suppose we are." He looked at the collection for a few more seconds, then snapped the lid back into place and walked to the lockers, sliding the box carefully onto a shelf.

Luffy nodded happily and turned to Sanji. "Sanji, we should have food to celebrate!"

"Not everything needs a party, shitty captain," Sanji grumbled. It _was_ getting on toward lunchtime, though. And if Luffy wanted to call it a celebration instead of a meal, well – he was the captain.

"C'mon, Zoro!" Luffy called as the crew left the room. "Time to party!"

"Yeah, yeah," Zoro said. "Be right there." He bent to gather up the contents of his locker, most of which were still strewn about the floor from Luffy's rummaging.

Once he was alone, Zoro hastily shoved the clothes and other items into a haphazard pile inside the locker. He moved to close the door, but hesitated. Reaching up, he pulled the treasure box off its shelf. Smiling slightly, he opened it, one hand gently moving through the items again.

It would be all right if he took a few extra minutes to get there. His family would understand.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, Luffy reads books in this life. Not to the level that someone like Robin does, but until he came to the island, books were the closest thing he had to going on adventures, so he does like ones with stories, interesting pictures, etc.


End file.
